NICE, France (AP) — The founder and CEO of messaging service Telegram was detained at a Paris airport on an arrest warrant for his alleged use of his platform to facilitate money laundering, drug trafficking and other crimes, French media reported Sunday.
Pavel Durov, a dual French-Russian citizen, was detained at Paris-Le Bourget airport on Saturday evening after arriving in France from Azerbaijan, broadcasters LCI and TF1 reported.
Investigators from the National Anti-Fraud Office, which is attached to French customs, informed Durov, 39, that he would be taken into police custody, the broadcaster reported.
A representative for Durov could not immediately be reached for comment.
French prosecutors, in line with rules during the ongoing investigation, declined to comment on Durov's arrest when contacted by The Associated Press on Sunday.
French media reported that an arrest warrant for Durov had been issued in France at the request of a special Interior Ministry unit charged with investigating crimes against minors, which includes online sexual exploitation, including the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material and soliciting them for sexual purposes.
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Telegram was founded by Durov and his brother in response to the Russian government's crackdown on mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow in late 2011 and 2012.
The protests have prompted Russian authorities to crack down on the digital space, introducing regulations requiring internet providers to block websites and mobile phone operators to store call records and messages that can be shared with security services.
In an increasingly repressive environment, Telegram and its pro-privacy rhetoric offered Russians a convenient way to communicate and share news. In 2018, Russia's media watchdog Roskomnadzor moved to block Telegram for refusing to hand over encryption keys, but ultimately failed to restrict access to the app entirely.
Telegram continues to be widely used by many institutions, including government agencies, and the ban was lifted two years later. In March 2024, Roskomnadzor announced that Telegram had some cooperation with the Russian government and had removed over 256,000 posts containing banned content at Roskomnadzor's request.
Telegram remains a popular news source in Ukraine, with media and government officials using it to share information about the war and distribute missile and air raid warnings.
Telegram did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Sunday.
A French judicial official indicated Durov could appear before a judge later on Sunday to decide whether to continue his detention. The official was not authorized to release names because of the ongoing investigation.
“The only time the persons concerned will be produced before a judge today is in relation to possible extension of police custody measures and that decision must be taken and notified by the investigating judge,” the official said.
Western governments have frequently criticized Telegram's messaging service for lacking content moderation features, but experts say the flaws could open the messaging platform to money laundering and drug trafficking, as well as allowing the sharing of material related to the sexual exploitation of minors.
David Thiel, a researcher at Stanford University's Internet Observatory who studies the use of online platforms for child exploitation, said Telegram is “less secure and has lax policies and detection of illegal content” compared to other messaging platforms.
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Additionally, Telegram “appears to be fundamentally unresponsive to law enforcement,” Thiel said, adding that while messaging service WhatsApp “filed over 1.3 million CyberTipline reports in 2023, Telegram did not file a single one.”
In 2022, Germany fined Telegram's operators 5.125 million euros ($5 million) for failing to comply with German law. The Federal Ministry of Justice said Telegram FZ-LLC had not established a legal way to report illegal content and had not designated an organization in Germany to receive official contact.
Both are required by German law regulating large online platforms.
Brazil temporarily suspended Telegram last year for failing to provide data on neo-Nazi activity related to a police investigation into a November school shooting.
Russian government officials expressed outrage over Durov's arrest, with some highlighting what they said was a double standard in the West when it comes to freedom of speech.
“In 2018, a group of 26 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, condemned the Russian court's decision to block Telegram,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
“Do you think this time they will appeal to Paris and demand Durov's release?” Zakharova said in a post on her Telegram account.
Zakharova told Russian state news agency Ria Novosti that officials from the Russian embassy in Paris had requested a meeting with Durov, but added that French authorities considered Durov's French nationality to be their first priority.
In a statement to The Associated Press earlier this month, Telegram said it was aggressively combating misuse of its platform.
“Moderators use a combination of proactive monitoring and user reports to remove content that violates Telegram's Terms of Service. Every day, millions of pieces of harmful content are removed,” the company said.
Associated Press writers Katie Marie Davis in Manchester, England, Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, and Barbara Ortutai in Oakland, California, contributed to this report.